PESHAWAR: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq on Tuesday alleged that 20 candidates of his party had been threatened in Hyderabad to withdraw their candidature from upcoming local government elections in Sindh.

Addressing a condolence reference for JI leaders here, Siraj said his party’s candidates were receiving life threats to withdraw candidature in different cities and towns of Sindh.

He said 20 candidates had already withdrawn their candidature in Hyderabad.

The JI chief urged the Election Commission of Pakistan to take steps for free and fair elections in Sindh, especially by providing level playing field to all parties and groups.

He said his party had made electoral alliance with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in Sindh to eliminate the ‘culture of extortion, target killing and corruption’ from Karachi and other areas.

Siraj said the JI had announced organising a rally in Islamabad on October 29 in favour of a bill submitted to the National Assembly Secretariat for integration of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Four MNAs of Fata had submitted the bill.

The JI chief said regrettably, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had delayed the session of the National Assembly until November 6.

He said thousands of tribesmen and JI workers were expected to attend the October 29 rally in front of Parliament House. Siraj said his party would support the Fata-KP integration. He said an ‘all-party conference’ would be organised in Islamabad next month to develop consensus among political forces for the merger of Fata with the province.

The JI chief came down heavily on extremist Hindus for launching a campaign against Pakistan-India Cricket series and said harassment of Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan was highly condemnable.

He said the attitude of the Indian government had proved that the Kashmir issue could be resolved neither through cricket diplomacy nor through bus diplomacy.

Siraj urged the government to take up the Kashmir issue in the United Nations.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2015

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